'The Big Year' Has Big Bolingbrook Connection

There's no red carpet special planned, but when "The Big Year" debuts in Bolingbrook theaters on Friday, there's sure to be some hype around the village.

That's because Mark Obmascik, the author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist that penned the book the movie is based on, is a product of . He now lives in Denver.

"The Big Year" movie stars Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson among several other high-profile actors. The movie is based on the Obmascik's book, The Big Year, which won the 2003 National Press Club award for environmental journalism. Obmascik has also won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000.

From Obmascik's website:

Mark Obmascik chronicles the 1998 North American Big Year, the greatest – or perhaps the worst – birding competition of all time. With engaging humor and a sharp wit, Obmascik captures the enthusiasm of the birders themselves, taking readers on a rollicking 275,000-mile odyssey, as each of the three main competitors fight for the title of champion.

The three contestants were perhaps the unlikeliest set of competitors ever to meet. A wise-cracking industrial contractor from New Jersey, a newly-retired executive vice-president of a multi-million dollar company from Aspen, and a painfully divorced software engineer who continued to work full time at a nuclear power plant in Maryland while pursuing his Big Year; they were all passionate about birds.

As they traveled on the grueling, 365-day potholed road to glory, they faced broiling deserts, roiling oceans, bug-infested swamps, rising debt, and a disgruntled mountain lion. From the island of Attu in Alaska to the Florida Keys, from the deserts of Arizona to the Pacific Ocean off the coast of northern California, they crossed time zones and, occasionally, paths on their quests to see once-in-a-lifetime rarities that could mean the difference between winner and second place. Perhaps the most intense birding competition ever, by December 31, one of the contenders had set a record so gigantic – identifying an extraordinary 745 different species by official year-end count – it is unlikely ever to be bested

From "The Big Year's" production notes:

Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson are at a crossroads: one is experiencing a mid-life crisis; another, a late-life crisis; and the third, a far from ordinary “no-life crisis.” From David Frankel, the director of The Devil Wears Prada and Marley & Me, comes a sophisticated comedy about three friendly rivals who, tired of being ruled by obligations and responsibilities, dedicate a year of their lives to following their dreams.  Their big year takes them on a cross-country journey of wild and life-changing adventures. 

"The Big Year" premieres Friday and can be seen at both of Bolingbrook's movie theaters: